2008 Jean Walsh Scholarship

Judy Kinnee, of Carnegie, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2008 Women’s Business Network (WBN) – Jean Walsh Scholarship Award. She will be applying this scholarship grant to further her own business growth and development through the advanced leadership training program for Usborne Books, where she will focus on marketing, relationship building and enhanced customer service skills.

Judy is an Executive Senior Supervisor with Usborne Books. She serves on an exclusive group called the Presidents Club, which meets twice a year with the CEO and other leaders in the company to discuss ways to improve the product and company. For the past 14 years with Usborne Books she has been helping families build a library of non-fiction and reference materials in their homes. Her desire is to enhance the lives of children and help create a nation where children choose books over television and video games. Judy has won company travel incentive contests based on her sales and recruiting goals. She has earned trips to Mexico, the Bahamas, England, Paris and the most recent contest will send her to Rome in the spring of 2009. Additionally, she is developing a strategy to get these books into schools and preschools in the Pittsburgh area through Usborne’s reading programs, book fairs and matching grant incentives.

Judy has been an active member of Women’s Business Network’s Pittsburgh West Chapter since 2006. She also volunteers her time for the Boys and Girls Club and the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society. A busy PTA mother of Allison age 16, Clifton age 13, and Donovan age 9, she has always loved children and children’s literature. She previously home schooled her children for 5 years when they were younger, but they currently attend public school at this time.

Judy looks forward to sharing the information she learns with her network to assist other women in their own businesses. She is committed to making a difference in women and children’s lives one book at a time.

The Women’s Business Network has been awarding this scholarship grant annually at their Holiday Breakfast each December since 1994 in honor of Jean M. Walsh who died of cancer. The scholarship commemorates the life of a woman who was instrumental in the establishment and development of the organization.

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